Impact of the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic on Healthcare Workers at a Tertiary Care Center in New York City

Abstract

HCWs in the first wave had more severe ILI than those in the second wave and were more likely to be exposed to patients' respiratory secretions. HCWs with ILI often worked while ill. Timely strategies to educate and support HCWs were critical to managing this population during the pandemic.

The mental health of doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The perceived risk of infection is warranted: a meta-analysis of the occupational risk from the 2009 swine flu pandemic (influenza A (H1N1)) reports that the odds of healthcare personnel contracting the virus were twice those of comparisons groups 23 . This heightened risk for doctors and nurses might be due to their greater exposure to the respiratory secretions of patients 24 . A further stressor is the increased risk of infection for the families of health care professionals on the frontline 25 .…”

The Occupational Risk of Influenza A (H1N1) Infection among Healthcare Personnel during the 2009 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

“…For all studies the utilisation of a confirmatory test is unknown [6,22,27,[42][43][44]. Four out of six studies (67%) used blood samples as diagnostic method [27,[42][43][44]. Two studies (33%) used nasopharyngeal swabs [6,22].…”

“…Three moderate quality studies [42][43][44] found higher H1N1 prevalence rates for HCP compared to controls/comparisons. Five out of six studies (83%) were of moderate [22,27,[42][43][44] and one study (17%) of high quality [6]. Several studies examined the job-related effect estimate (Odds Ratio, Relative Risk) of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection among HCP ( Table 3).…”

“…Of these, 15 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Reasons for exclusion of eleven studies [6,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] from the meta-analysis were missing data relating to the number of cases.…”

Health care–associated infection outbreaks in pediatric long-term care facilities

“…In a study of the impact of the H1N1 influenza A pandemic on health care workers at an acute care hospital in New York City, 65% of those diagnosed with H1N1 influenza A reported working with influenza-like symptoms prior to presenting to workforce health and safety for evaluation. 9 Similarly, Mitchell et al 10 reported that among health care workers who had influenza-like symptoms during the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, 28% continued working.…”